Research & Planning: E4 & The Brief

E4 is owned by Channel 4 and was launched on the 18th of January, 2001, making the channel 15 years old. Shows regularly featured include American SitComs, like The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls and How I Met Your Mother, and popular British shows, such as Skins, The Inbetweeners and Misfits. These shows are generally aimed at teens or young adults and mainly include SitComs and teen dramas.
The primary target audience of E4 would be the older teens and young adults, probably of the B, C1 and E demographic categories, due to the mature nature of most of the content and the comedy aspect included in these programmes. These people would probably be of the Aspirer or Explorer Psychographics. The secondary audience of E4 would be Middle aged adults, because they would relate to situations occurring within the shows, as they are more likely to have experienced something similar already. Channel 4 are also responsible for other channels, such as Kerrang!TV, Film4, More4 and 4seven.

An ESting is a 10 second channel ident, used to identify and advertise the channel. The ident is placed before and after the adverts, so as to frame each section of the programme that is playing at that point in time.

I liked the hyperactivity of the dog in this animation, as the jerky and jarring movements are incredibly eye-catching, especially when paired with the bright and vibrant purples that the entire animation is composed of. The bold lines add a childish charm and the cartoon character's manic actions and behaviour would appeal to many.



I enjoyed this cartoon, because of it's link to a popular urban legend and the simple art style used. The use of an alternative-genre clothing choice would appeal to people in their teens, including myself, as it's not the social norm and it wouldn't be expected. It's a cutesy take on a not-so-cute legend and I really enjoyed the overall feel and the effects of the E4 logo toothpaste splat, on the mirror.



I really like the bright colours used in this ESting, and the rainbow gradient on the floor is very well done and fits nicely into the visuals. The entire thing had a very 80s feel about it, like He-man, and I really like the silhouette at the end, especially how the cat's eyes appear to glow like a real cat's. The animation style was nice and simple and the skeletons' movements were sufficiently creepy.

This was our test footage of our live-action stop-frame animation. We were experimenting with different kinds of movement, to see our limitations when working in this medium.

The animated ESting that we have planned will be an object-based stop-motion animation, where makeup items and other random products, most popularly found in girl's room, would come out of box or bag. They would then proceed to slide across surface into logo. Using objects is an easier method, as there are no talent releases required and, where animating with people has issue regarding continuity because of fatigue and the subjects moving between shot, objects are far easier to control and remanipulate. We would film the entire animation backwards, as this makes it easier to form the logo, without worrying about whether or not there are enough objects or getting the right shape and positioning for the logo. Our location is flexible, because the setting is easily adjustable, depending upon the availability of a table and unchanging lighting.

Research and Planning: Designing an ESting

In my ESting, I plan to create an object-based, stop-frame animation, where the camera tracks the action, in a smooth, consistent movement. 

The objects initially exit a box or bag. The scattered objects then travel across table, coming together to create E4 logo at the end.

The animation would be set table, possibly girl's room. Options could be a desk or dressing table, with a mirror (see right).

There would be financial limitations, due to our £5 budget. The animation requires specific colours for the logo and, depending upon the availability, items of these colours may have to be purchased. Competence would not be as big of an issue, as the main focus of the animation will be objects, as opposed to people. The only problem that may arise would be from the person operating the camera and the person moving the objects. If there isn't a minimum of 2 people working on the ESting, the difficulty of the project would increase exponentially and may not even be possible. Locations do not offer any limitations, as all that is required, really, is a table. The animation soundtrack must be selected from the E4 ESting soundbank. There are a few that I like, but I am going to wait until the animation is complete before selecting one, as I would want the music to be best suited to the animation and fit in with the theme and feel.

The primary target audience would be females, who are into crafts and/or make up etc. This would most likely appeal to younger teen, between the ages of about 13 to 17. This would mean that they are included in the Explorer or Aspirer psychographics and the E demographic, as this age range would still be in compulsory education. The secondary target audience would be older women, between 35 and 45, as they could be watching with their children. This would most likely put them in the Mainstreamer or Reformer psychographics and anywhere between the A and C2 demographics.

We planned to use our classroom for a setting location, as this had the easiest access available.

This is the storyboard for our ESting.

This is our production schedule.

This is the risk assessment we completed before filming.

The History and Development of Stop Motion Animation

Thaumatrope

The thaumatrope was created by either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget, in the early 1800s. One of the earliest uses of the Thaumatrope was in 1824, when it was used to demonstrate persistence of vision at the London College of Physicians. It was popularly used as a toy throughout the 19^th century, due to how easy it is to use. The thaumatrope consists of a disk with a picture on each side, which is attached to two pieces of string, equidistant to each other at the circumference. When the strings are twirled between the fingers, if done quick enough, the two pictures visually blend together to create one image, due to the persistence of vision.

Phenakistoscope

Created by Joseph Plateau in 1829, the Phenakistoscope is a spinning disk with a series of images around the edge, which, when observed through regular openings in the disk, create the illusion of motion when spun. 

Zoetrope

The zoetrope was invented by mathematician William George Horner, in 1833/34, giving it the alternative and original name "daedaleum". The device gained popularity in the 1860s and was later renamed by the american inventor William F. Lincoln, who coined the name "Zoetrope". As opposed to the daedaleum's images being punctuated by viewing slits, the zoetrope consists of a drum with slits above where the images sit, so as to increase the ease of production and allow continuous strips of images that are easily replaceable. This contraption works much in the same way as the phenakistoscope, in the fact that you view the images through slits and that there is an element of motion, however, the images are inside a spinable drum, where they line the base. When viewed through the slits, the images appear to move, to create short animations, much like GIFs nowadays.




Praxinoscope
Charles-Emile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope in 1877 and this became the zoetrope's successor, as it advanced the technology so far as to include mirrors, to aid viewing. Reynaud removed the viewing slots from his design and introduced a central mirrored section, which would reflect the images, so that the viewer could see them with ease. The rest of the design is much the same as the zoetrope, with the barrel and the manual spinning motion still used. 



Kinetoscope
The kinetoscope was conceptualised by Thomas Edison, in 1888, and created by his employee, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, between 1889 and 1892. It consists of a series of motorised spools, which quickly feed the film under a viewing hole, which causes the illusion of motion.




Any examples of my own experimentations with these forms of animation can be found here.


Here are some examples of the ways that stop-frame animation is used in the media now.

Developers

George Pal, a Hungarian animator from the 30s and 40s, is most commonly known for deveolping the Pal-Doll or Puppetoon animation technique. This involves using puppets, or puppet parts, to animate and was first used, by Pal, in a cigarette advert in 1932. Some of Pal's pieces are Tulips Shall Grow (1942), Suess' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943) and Tom Thumb (1958).



Willis O'Brien worked with clay models he created, aiding in the creation of various famous works, such as Along The Moonbeam Trail (1920), Evolution (1923) and even King Kong (1933). He then proceeded to create Mighty Joe Young (1949), another incredibly successful and well loved piece, on which he worked with his mentee and eventual successor, Ray Harryhausen.



Ray Harryhausen, after working with both Pal and O'Brien, went on to further his animation repertiore and even create his own animation style known as "Dynamation", which is acheived by positioning a partially painted sheet of glass between the camera and the screen, so as to obscure the film, in order to avoid exposure. The painted section would then be inverted, to allow the unfilmed section of film to be completed, therefore completing the shot. This was used in order to make it seem as though a model was passing through or interacting with the environment. This technique was used in many of Harryhausen's most popular films, such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981).




Phil Tippett used models to animate and create visual effects, specialising in creature design and character animation, using stop motion animation. It is noted that he took inspiration from Harryhausen's Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. He is most well-known for his work on Star Wars IV: A New Hope and Jurrassic Park.


Otmar Gutmann is a multi-talented German animator, director and filmmaker. Gutmann used Plasticine to create his nationally identifiable character, Pingu (1986-1994, 2004-2006). However, he also had a hand in animating for the television series Lucy the Menace of the Street (1980).



Tim Burton and Henry Selick are two of the worlds most popular stop-frame animators. This duo are renowned for the dark atmosphere of their films and the unique stylings of the models used withing the stop motion animation. The appearance of most of their characters consists of elongated limbs and large eyes, which aid in expression of emotions. Some of Burton's animation work includes Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012). Along with working with Disney and Pixar, Selick also worked on Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and James and the Giant Peach (1996) with Burton. Selick later joined Laika, an Oregon-based stop motion production studio, and directed and produced Coraline (2009), his first feature with the company.
 



Adam Shaheen, British animator, producer and screenwriter and founder of Cuppa Coffee Studios, has created over 200 adverts and worked with many famous companies, such as MTV, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central. The animation material he favours would be Plasticine and the subject matter he often pursues is considered caricatured parody and often make note of recent and controversial topics, such as politics and recent events. Some of his most popular work includes Glenn Martin DDS, Celebrity Deathmatch and Life's a Zoo.


The Brothers Quay, Stephen and Timothy Quay, are a pair of American animators, most known for their extremely dark and sinister feeling animations. They utilise found objects, such as doll parts, wires and various utensils. They have been known to be influenced by various Polish animators, including Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica. Some of their work includes Nocturna Artificialia (1979), The Calligrapher (1991) and Maska (2010).



Aardman Animations was founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton and specialise in claymation, although they did have success with their trail of computer animation, with the release of Flushed Away (2006). They started off animating for the BBC for a Vision On, during the 70s, and then went on to create one of their most famous characters: Morph. In 1985, Nick Park, an English animator most famous for being the creator of the Wallace and Gromit series, joined the studio. Some of the studio's filmography includes Chicken Run (2000), A Close Shave (1995) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008).

TV programmes
Bagpuss:


Bugpuss is a children's animation from 1974, created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. This uses toys as puppets, in stop-frame animation. This programme's original target audience was young children, due to the topics being very simple and child-friendly. Each episode includes moral lessons and words of wisdom, teaching children important mannerisms and rules, such as teamwork and patience.

Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids:
 

Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids first aired on CITV, in 2000, and was created by Jamie Rix. The introduction is stop-frame animation but the main animation style is 2D animation. This is aimed at older children, probably between 8 and 15, due to it's slightly shocking topics. This programme uses shock tactics to teach consequences, exaggerating and hyperbolising to create a sense of comedy and thrill. Therefore, this may be deemed inappropriate for younger audiences, as they may be disturbed or scared by these portrayals of extremely naughty children, and the consequences of their actions.

Robot Chicken:


Robot Chicken is an animated sketch comedy series, produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. They use specially modified action figures to animate their characters and add plasticine to create special effects.of






Films
A Town Called Panic:
A Town Called Panic is a Belgium-made film about a Cowboy, an Indian and a horse. It focuses on the antics they get up to and is animated, quite basically, using identifiable figures of the individual characters.


Corpse Bride:

This film uses Tim Burton's classically gangly and wide-eyed puppets to create the uniquely creepy characters of Victor and his Corpse Bride. The dark and quirkily creepy style brings this haunting tale of love and loss to life, like no other animator or director could dream of.





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XBOX360:
 








Music Videos
 Opiuo – Quack Fat:




Son Lux – Change Is Everything:




Webisodes / web series
 Life’s a Zoo:
 




The Machine:

The Requirements of Working to a Brief

Briefs

• A brief is a summary of a client's expectations for the media piece they have given you to do. A brief details what you have to include in order to complete the task assigned and includes specific points from the client  that can aid the creator in completing the product to the
• 
  
• to be given a task to complete, often for reward
• Tender is an open commission where the client advertises to multiple or any creators and then chooses the product that is best suited to their requirements.

• How else could you respond to a brief? (Think about the one you created an animation for…)

Reading a brief

• Discuss recognising the nature of and demand implicit in a brief, e.g., what was specified in the E4 ESting guidance that you had to include/meet?

logo

only provided music

10 secs

Negotiating a brief

• Discuss how much room you had to negotiate the brief.
• could do whatever we wanted, subject-wise.
• had to use music from a provided selection
• could not be longer than 10 seconds, give or take a few milliseconds. 
• creative versi
• could not consult E4, as brief is part of competition

• In the media industry, what degree of discretion do/would you have in interpreting a brief?
• What constraints (legal, ethical, regulatory) might you face when responding to a brief? What constraints did you face?
• Did you have to make any amendments to proposed final product? Why?
• For what reasons might there be amendments to; a budget? Your fees? Conditions outlined in the contract?

Opportunities

• Why might someone respond to a brief?
• Identify opportunities that you had for self-development.
• What new skills did you learn?
• Did you have to multi-skill at all during the project?
• What contributions did you make to the project brief?

ESting - The Box & Evaluation

I have decided to present this evaluation as a written report, supported with visual examples. I believe that this is the best way to fully convey what I mean and the feedback  I have received while working on this project. This allows for me to include more detail and proof of feedback, with images that are able to be reviewed and revisited. I distributed my ESting on YouTube and via my blog. If I could make any changes to my distribution methods, I would definitely have utilised the social media that is available, globally. This would have allowed me to reach out to a wider range of people and a virtually limitless number of opinions and constructive criticisms. I obtained my feedback through survey responses and the comments on the YouTube video.

When creating an ESting, the criteria requires specific music to be used, which is provided by E4. This meant our music wasn't best suited to our ESting concept, as none of the options really fit the mood or pace of our ESting. Also, Entry to the competition is only possible if the entrant has an actve Twitter profile, as entries are taken via the social media site. I, as someone who does not use social media often, would find this inconvenient, as it would mean creating an account, purely for the purpose of entering this competition. As there is an age limit, this limits who can contribute to the competition. This wasn't an issue for my group, as we were all over 16. 

Time management for this project wasn't an issue, as we completed it within 2 days. I believe we would have achieved a better final product if we had filmed it all in one day, as there was a jump in footage, between 0:05 and 0:06, which is the divide between the separate days work. 

I believe our final product conformed to all the rules and guidelines, regarding content and appropriateness, however, I do not believe this is of broadcast quality, as I believe the border detracted from the overall footage quality and would not have been used on national television.

Feedback

The feedback was mostly positive, with some accurate criticisms, regarding the rather choppy jump between the two days work and the suitability of the music, in comparison to the content. The responses and comments were collected from friends, peers and family, which allowed for more variance in opinion. Most thought that the ident didn't suit the target audience and thought it was aimed towards small children. I agree with most of these criticisms, although people did seem to have conflicting opinions regarding the border, where I have a distinct dislike of it.

Through this project, I feel I have gained a better grasp of how stop-frame animation works and how to work closely to a brief. It has allowed me to work with patience to create a product that I am proud and satisfied with. I found working to a brief made creating a final product more easy, due to the clear, concise and detailed nature of briefs. I believe I would be suited to working with briefs, as I enjoy the foolproof structure and guidelines that are provided. I found working with animation a fun and creative alternative to live-action work and would probably pursue it as a career, if the opportunity ever arose. 

Parabellum by Pasha Egorov

Homunculus by Sam Stephens

The Machine by Rob Shaw

Tim Burton & Henry Selick

My Primitive Animation Attempts

Praxinoscope: Early Animation